Website Helps Women Avoid Dining Alone

Do you hate eating alone when you travel? A new website created for women intends to prevent the dread of saying, "table for one."

According to CNN, Invite For a Bite is a new website that aims to help women find dining company. Women from around the world can post invites and make plans to dine together. The site specifically caters to women who travel frequently and hate eating alone in cities where they don't know anyone.

Cressida Howard, creator of Invite For a Bite, came up with the idea after listening to a BBC radio segment about women who often travel alone, some for business and others for pleasure. While none of the women minded traveling alone, they all dreaded eating alone.

Only two months after starting the site, Howard is already getting positive responses from women around the globe. Get-togethers have been posted in places from New York to Calabria, Italy. Howard says she received a message from a woman in Germany who stated, "I just remember myself on my latest travels for work sitting in a restaurant alone and would be so happy if those times were over!"

Howard understands that meeting new people in a strange place can be dangerous, and she urges all women who use Invite For a Bite to be careful. The site suggests meeting in a busy place, driving separately, and paying attention to personal belongings. Howard also created a reporting feature in case someone has a bad experience.

One question that comes up often about Invite for a Bite is why it's only for women. Howard says meeting men, "is simply not what most women want when they are traveling on business." She believes that the idea of men and women meeting for meals, even if it's not intentionally a date, would often be taken the wrong way. "No matter how many times you explained that it wasn't, common sense dictates that it would be treated as such by some people," Howard said.

What do you think: Is it fair that Invite For a Bite excludes men? Would you use this site to find dining companions while traveling?